Super Whooper

WWT’s Larry Griffin made a short (1-week) visit to Iceland in mid-August to catch up with the satellite-tagged whooper swans during the summer months. In particular he was keen to obtain news of “Gordon” and “Tony”, being followed by BBC News North West, and also to determine the fate of swans whose tags have not moved for some time. Attempts to track down Gordon in his summer haunts sadly failed, because driving rain made it difficult for Larry to see anything at all as he passed through Borganes! Satellite transmissions indicate that Gordon is still frequenting this area, but we must wait until he returns to Martin Mere to see if he's succeeded in raising a family this year. Tony’s tag was retrieved from the mud at Lonfjordur, but happily there was no sign of Tony himself, so we’re confident that he’s just succeeded in ridding himself of his transmitter. The new challenge is to locate him by reading his leg ring this autumn!

Of the other swans whose transmitters are still functioning only Y6K was located. He looked in fine fettle, feeding with a flock of 48 non-breeding Whooper Swans plus one family on a brackish lagoon near Reynivellir on the coast of SE Iceland, and has since moved southwest to Kirkjubaejarklaustur. Larry last saw this bird at Aglionby, near Carlisle, when the snow was on the ground last winter, so was particularly pleased to catch up with him again.

A total of 10 tags were recovered, including Tony’s, of which one (V9L) sadly was found on a dead swan. The others included tags for Drangay (NA3), Lars (Z96), Sherdley (9HX), Snow Cloud (X3B), Edmund (DL3) and Y5N. So we hope to find them by more conventional, low-tec means when the swans return to Britain and Ireland in a few weeks time.

The whooper swan satellite-tracking project, which aims to describe the migration routes and flight heights of whooper swans in relation to offshore wind farm sites, is being funded by COWRIE (Collaborative Offshore Wind Research Into the Environment). COWRIE is a registered charity, established to improve knowledge and understanding of the potential environmental impacts of offshore wind farm development in UK waters. It supports a range of projects identified by the COWRIE Environment Working Group as areas where further research is needed in relation to offshore wind. Further information can be obtained on the COWRIE website on www.offshorewindfarms.co.uk/Pages/COWRIE/